The changing seasons and the sounds of insects
The sound of insects reminds us of the changing seasons. The sounds of insects change with the seasons, telling us of the beginning and end of summer and the arrival of winter, when things are quieter. Insects work hard during their short lifespan to convey to us the richest of thoughts and feelings, a little bit of healing.
There is a small park near my house where I often take a walk on weekends and holidays. The other day, during my usual walk, I suddenly felt something strange. Children were playing ball in the park, but there was something missing, as if I was watching a silent movie.
The voices of insects conveying the seasons.
The discomfort was due to the fact that the cicadas had completely stopped singing. Just a few weeks ago, we would have heard the noisy chirping of minmin-zemi and abura-zemi, and in the evening we would have heard the call of higurashi (a Japanese bush warbler) from the distant mountains. The other day, however, it was all quiet.
Instead, as I strolled through the evening, the autumn insects, such as thrushes and crickets, began to play from the grass.
Incidentally, when I was a child, my younger brother used to collect beetles and stag beetles from the forest in the summer and keep them packed in insect cases. Because of this, I remember that at night these insects would have a big field day, rattling and bumping into the cases and buzzing their wings, making a lot of noise.
In addition, my father kept a thrush, and as if to replace the beetle season, the thrush began to chirp noisily, reminding me of autumn.
After living underground, we celebrate the fleeting summer
Cicadas, used as season’s greetings, have entered our lives as a symbol of summer, and their chirps signal the arrival of summer. However, the lifespan of cicadas is sometimes much longer than one might imagine from the length of time they can be heard.
Cicadas normally spend several years underground as larvae and live only a short time as adults. Some cicadas spend as long as 17 or 13 years in the ground. These cicadas may remain in the dark for 10 years or more, only to emerge one day and live out their short lives in the sky.
Species Preservation Strategies by Long-lived Insects
Insects are generally thought of as short-lived, but some species, such as the cicada introduced earlier, live more than 10 years. As an even longer-lived insect, the queen ant of the Australian Nasutitermes termites is said to have a life span of about 100 years. They can reach up to 10 cm in length and lay billions of eggs in their lifetime at an astonishing rate of egg-laying. The queen is the keystone of the colony’s survival and dedicates her entire life to it. The eggs are carefully nurtured by the entire colony.
Not all members of the 17-year old queen can live for 17 years. Some of them may not be able to find food for a long time, or they may be preyed upon by animals in the ground and live a short life.
In other words, cicadas that are able to survive for 17 years and leave offspring are either lucky or have a strong life force. By leaving behind strong ones, we can see the aim to make them even stronger and continue them from generation to generation.
There is no right answer to the question of long and short life span.
On the contrary, flies and mosquitoes are well known as short-lived insects. These insects live only two weeks to a month. Conversely, they aim to preserve their species by repeatedly changing generations at such a fast cycle.
An egg hatches, becomes an adult as quickly as possible, and produces the next egg. By doing so, they may be aiming to shorten the larval period, during which they are easily targeted by foreign enemies, as much as possible. Also, the food requirements would be minimal.
The two directions seem to be opposite: to leave a superior species that can survive for a long time, and to aim for the survival of the species by sharing roles, or to aim for the survival of the species by growing fast and producing many eggs anyway.
However, we do not know which is more advantageous. If the answer were to be found, there would be an explosion of certain species. Perhaps the earth’s environment will change drastically, and cicadas and termites will dominate the world, and…maybe there is such a future.
Before winter comes and things finally quiet down, it might be a good idea to go out into the garden or grass to look for the sound of insects.
By Admin|2023-09-27|2023,|